Cessily squared her shoulders and set her jaw as she casually watched Tamika working weeding in the fields. Hard Stone and Kaneesha were waiting for Cessily to lead Tamika over to where they were waiting in case they were needed. Cessily nearly chewed her cheek from her nerves, 'Mike left this to up to my judgement.' she sucked on her teeth and mentally went over what she discussed and planned with Hard Stone and Kaneesha, 'I'm going to ask to talk to her and they're going to be just around the corner of one of the stone buildings. I'm going to be direct but polite with her and tell her we saw her practicing magic outside the parameters of law and see how she reacts. If she stays calm and talks I'll see if I need to arrest her at all or I can let her off with a warning.'

Cessily screwed up her courage and began walking.

* * *

Tamika pulled a handful of weeds from the ground with a grunt and shook the dirt from the roots. The clump looked like a type of volunteer onions. She straightened up and stuffed the weeds into her shoulder bag. The day was warm, but not scorching and thanks to the weather Pegasi, there was a comforting cloud cover over the Humans and Ponies working in the fields. Tamika shifted her weight then crouched down again. There were always more weeds to pull. As her hands wrapped around the next clump of unwanted plants her mind drifted to the Ponies working around her and she shifted toward her fellow Humans wanting to be as close to her own kind as she could as she subtly eyed the quadrupeds, 'Yeah, you just stay the fuck away from me or I'll fucking perforate your ass.' she seethed silently, staring hate at the cream colored Earth Pony mare happily and obliviously weeding two rows away from Tamika, 'Just keep your eyes on the ground bitch. I won't have to nail you in the head with a rock.' she slipped her left hand into her pocket and ran her fingers through the pocket full of pea gravel, 'Got me a nice blast of pebbles for you. You're all so fucking high and mighty with your strength and magic. Well I have some magic now too. Just you fucking try something.'

She was so distracted by her hate for the oblivious mare, she completely missed the soft padding of Community Welfare Guardian Lieutenant Cessily Richardson approaching her,
"You okay Tamika?" Cessily asked.

Tamika startled and looked to her left and up at at Cessily, shielding her eyes with her right hand while her left clenched around the pebbles in her pocket,
"I'm fine, what's up?" she claimed neutrally.

Cessily shrugged and looked around,
"We've been told that some people aren't drinking enough water so we're offering breaks to groups of folks. Yall work like crazy out here and we want everybody to work safe." Cessily shrugged nonchalantly, "Yall pass out, we go hungry." she joked.

Tamika gave a humorless half smirk as she stood up,
"Alright," she cupped her hands around her mouth, "Yo! Everybody hydrate, now!" it was a phrase they had all learned from the military service members of the group.

Cessily noticed that Tamika only spoke in American English and never said anything to the Ponies,
"Aren't you going to tell the Ponies too?" she asked.

Tamika rolled her eyes and huffed irritably,
"Hell no, they don't need a babysitter. They get thirsty, they can excuse themselves."

Tamika stepped around Cessily as the nineteen other people in her group stood, cracked backs, and began wandering toward the closest drinking station mounted on the outskirts of New Humansville. The drinking stations had been R.J.'s idea initially. Rain barrels were placed under a series of spread, angled tent canvas to catch the rain and funnel it into the barrels then the barrels were placed around the perimeter of New Humansville so people could drink as needed.

Tamika wiped the sweat off her forehead and followed the crowd to the drinking station. She tugged on her blouse and withdrew a small tin drinking cup tied to her belt with a string. She untied the handle of the cup and held it in her hand as she approached the barrel. Everybody knew to move away from the barrel once they had water and the vast majority had enough decency to do so.

Tamika dipped her cup into the barrel and stepped away quickly. Her eyes passed over every other Human around, checking to see that they were all drinking. Tamika had seen what heat exhaustion could do to a person and while she relished the thought of seeing a Pony suffering in such a state, she didn't want to see her fellow Humans endure the same thing.

"Everybody drink at least three cups then we go back to work." Tamika yelled.

Cessily watched as the others nodded and murmured their agreement, 'They see her as a leader. How did we miss this? She obviously has the potential,' Cessily narrowed her eyes as her mind brushed Tamika's, 'She has a serious problem though. Thinking about ways to corner and kill Ponies isn't a good thing.' the dynamic woman squared her jaw and set her face in a neutral expression, 'I can't judge her for that though. What she thinks and what she's willing to act on are two different things. Just thinking something isn't against the law and so far she's only broken one law. Heck even the one law she broke is only half valid. They had a working circle for protection, same as the Unicorns have for practice.' Cessily crossed her arms and pondered, 'There are spells that we aren't allowed to learn, but the Arch Magister said that almost any Noun and Verb can be potentially deadly. Where do we draw the line? How do we make the distinction? A spell that just levitates objects could be used to levitate a person or Pony just as easily. Just toss them up and drop them and splat, dead body.' Cessily grunted to herself, 'Where is the distinction?'

Seeing that everybody had drank at least three cups of water, Tamika yelled again,
"Alright, let's get back to work. We all need to eat."

Cessily chose her moment,
"Hey Tamika you have a few?"

Tamika turned and smiled at Cessily knowingly,
"Finally figure out what you wanted to really say?" she asked.

Cessily was surprised, but no trace ever showed on her face,
"Yeah, I guess it was probably pretty obvious huh?"

Tamika smirked and planted her fists on her hips,
"You think? Come on, out with it, what do you need?"

Cessily kept her eyes on Tamika bus she saw her two person backup poke their heads around a nearby corner that Tamika had her back to,
"I'm worried about you girl. You changed since we got here."

Tamika rolled her eyes,
"DUH! We all changed! It's not like we get walked by dogs back home! It's a bit to adjust to."

Cessily nodded and shifted her posture slightly,
"Yeah, but not always for the better. You remember what happened with Jason?"

Tamika looked away, off into the sky,
"Yeah, dumb fool got himself caught trying to kill a couple of the Ponies."

Cessily nodded,
"Yes he did get caught, but he was going to kill innocent Ponies."

Tamika huffed out an exasperated breath,
"Innocent my ass. They're only innocent until they do what they're really planning. They try that shit around me, they're going to find themselves making like a mother fucking pincushion! I'm not fooled by all their pretty colors, coral snake is pretty too, till it gets its fangs into you. They've gone and made us helpless! We were the badasses that the animals didn't mess with and now we're their playthings! How many of US died in The Battle and how many of THEM died!? Huh!? Answer me that!? Why is it that even though they outnumber us a billion to one WE were the meat shield for THEM!?" she took an aggressive step toward Cessily, "They are whittling us down, and the worst part is that we're letting them!" Tamika took a step back and straightened up her posture, "Not happening on my watch! I don't care if I have to rip apart their spawn in front of their eyes, they will learn to show us the proper mother fucking respect we deserve! Or I'll fucking EAT THEIR ASSES!"

Cessily knew she needed to calm Tamika down and quickly. Maintaining her relaxed posture she asked a simple question,
"And what if you accidentally hurt an innocent in the process of protecting others?" she asked calmly, "Could you live with that?"

Tamika snorted derisively,
"Yeah right' as if any of them are innocent, and besides they're animals! They have no rights or morals or souls! Have you forgotten the massacre!? Do you honestly think ANY of them feel the least bit sorry for what they did!? Hell, I'm surprised they didn't all attack us, it's sure as hell what they wanted!" Tamika drew a breath and continued, "Except they figured they could use us for slave labor." she stepped right up to Cessily's face, her nose half an inch away, "You want the word 'Human' to mean the same thing 'nigger' did back in colonial times?"

Cessily had heard enough to judge the woman was dangerous and probed her mind as carefully as she could. She received a mental image of Tamika burying Cessily's body in the forest, 'Enough is enough, time to push.'

Cessily leaned forward and touched her nose to Tamika's,
"Is that why you've been practicing magic in the forest to the North and developing a spell specifically meant for killing?"

Tamika smiled maliciously and took a step back sizing up the smaller woman as she fingered the knife on her belt,
"Yeah it is. What are you going to do about it?"

Cessily shifted her weight to balance herself,
"I'll have to arrest you if you don't stop. I don't want to arrest you, but I'm not going to stand back while you murder innocent beings, no matter what species they are." she took a step forward, "That kind of thinking, I'm betting, is what caused the massacre in the first place. Where does it end huh? Tell me that? You want us to end up like the situation always was in the Middle East back home? Everybody hating and raping and murdering each other forever? Is that what you want? Because that's exactly where your thinking leads, generations of hate. Entire generations thrown away because of mindless hate. We rose above that in America because we had enough character to forgive. Things needed to change and they will, but indiscriminately killing isn't going to do anything but breed hatred. White people thought WE had no morals or souls or rights and we suffered for it. Are you really going to do the same thing to somebody else?" she took another step and looked up, right into Tamika's face whispering, "Or are you going to have enough character to forgive? White people began to see what was wrong with what they were doing in the North. Who's to say there aren't Ponies who might start doing the same thing? We have a chance her for all Humans to be equals, true equals, for the first time, and to share that with the natives. Do you really think that if they wanted to they couldn't just sweep down here and have us all in chains in less than a day? They are fulfilling a moral obligation and helping us and I won't have any part of your plan to ruin our chances. So, you can either stop practicing magic or I can arrest you right now. Your choice."

Tamika snorted,
"You're planning to arrest me anyway." in a flash of motion, Tamika pulled her knife and lunged for Cessily.

Cessily skipped back drawing the club hanging at her belt as she felt the knife slice into her stomach, but her adrenaline was going and she couldn't register the depth of the injury,
"You're under arrest for illegal practice of magic and for attempted murder. Surrender now and we won't have to use force."

Taking the statement as their cue, Kaneesha and Solid Stone emerged from behind the building behind Tamika. Without wasting a second, Kaneesha stepped forward and swung the staff she had brought. Her swing connected hard with Tamika's ankles and swept the young woman right off her feet. Tamika landed on her back with a startled cry and Solid Stone leaped toward her, aiming his mouth to grip her right hand which held the knife. He missed and Tamika retaliated by slicing into his open mouth and widening his smile a good two inches. Ignoring his injury, Solid Stone pounced onto Tamika to hold her down.

The Human and bleeding Pony struggled wildly on the ground for half a second before Kaneesha and Cessily joined in. The grapple was fierce as Tamika grabbed Solid Stone by his throat, even while her knee swung upward and connected with Solid Stone's stones. The Earth Pony threw his head back, exposed his neck, and sung out in a tone any male would pity. Tamika took advantage of the opening and brought her knife toward the Earth Pony's throat. Before her blade connected with flesh again, Kaneesha's hands found Tamika's wrist and pinned it to the ground roughly.

Realizing she was about to be foiled, Tamika let go of Solid Stone's throat and thrust her left hand into her pocket as she squirmed and tried to dislodge Kaneesha or the heavy Earth Pony. Cessily dove onto Tamika's arm and held her hand in her pocket. Tamika struggled wildly, screaming and writhing on the ground then leaned up and bit Solid Stone on his neck. Seeing that the situation needed to be ended swiftly as possible, Cessily settled onto a reliable fallback option.

"Stop fighting or else I'm going to have to break your arm!" Cessily threatened.

"Ditto." Kaneesha grunted.

As a response to the statement, Tamika kneed Solid Stone in the crotch again. The stallion would have cried out, but the jaws around his windpipe were crushing his airway. Cessily bit her lower lip, twisted her body around, placed her right arm directly beneath Tamika's elbow, and levered down with all her weight.

Meanwhile Kaneesha gripped Tamika's wrist and dug her thumb into the nerves. Tamika's grip loosened and Kaneesha pried the knife out of her grip. Holding the arm tightly, Kaneesha rolled herself around until she had her knee behind Tamika's right shoulder, and pulled.

Tamika's left elbow hyper extended and snapped loudly as her right shoulder dislocated. She screamed, letting go of Solid Stone's throat. The Earth Pony stood and staggered drunkenly away, gasping for breath and finding himself unable to obtain any. His windpipe had been crushed.

"Let go of her!" Cessily ordered loudly.

Kaneesha forced herself to obey the order, something she was not particularly accustomed to doing, and let go of Tamika. Not wasting any time, Cessily rolled Tamika onto her stomach and pressed her knee against the center of her back. Cessily quickly motioned for Kaneesha to take her place as her eyes wandered to the Earth Pony who was rolling around on the ground, holding his throat and turning blue in the face.

Without even consciously thinking about it, Cessily reached out with her mind and sent out a call, 'Bobby! Come quick, one of the Ponies got his throat crushed, he can't breathe!' she looked around for the first time, noticing all the Humans and Ponies who had gathered around and finished her message, 'Follow the crowd! Hurry!'

* * *

Mike Joyner, Captain of the New Humansville Community Welfare Guardians, was not happy. He stood, frozen in place on the third floor of Town Hall as Cessily and Kaneesha finished their account of the events which led to Cessily needing thirty-seven stitches and one of his Ponies currently in emergency surgery for a crushed windpipe and blunt force trauma to the testicles. Tamika was being examined by Pony doctors due entirely to their skill with quickly healing broken bones and dislocated joints, it was certainly not because of her hatred of the Ponies, that would be unprofessional, even if there was some feeling of satisfaction when she had to be sedated and tied down.

Mike stood stock still for several seconds before his right hand came up and massaged the bridge of his nose, 'What a cluster fuck. This is why we need our training.' To say things could have gone better would have been a drastic understatement. Despite his distinctive displeasure at how things turned out, he was unwilling to call off the confrontation and possible apprehension of the other Sorcerers. He had reports from the other C.W.G. Officers that only one of the other Sorcerers had needed to be arrested and was arrested without any injuries to anybody. The others of the rogue group had agreed not to practice magic outside a classroom until they were cleared to do so. That left only left Brandon Elstwere to be confronted by the Captain himself. It was a conversation that Mike was not looking forward to.

Mike cleared his throat and addressed his two officers in a calm tone of voice,
"Things escalated completely out of control with Tamika. Many, if not all, of the injuries associated with this arrest could have been prevented had the situation been handled better. I want you to tell me where your error was Lieutenant."

Cessily had given the same question a lot of thought already and had been focusing on it,
"Mistake number one was with my approach. As soon as I realized she was becoming agitated I should have backed off verbally and attempted to calm her down before proceeding. Mistake number two was approaching and arguing with her."

Mike nodded his head,
"Correct. Now once she drew her knife and attacked you, you technically had the right to match force with force and I am glad you decided not to. She employed the use of lethal force and you both, and Solid Stone utilized less than lethal force to subdue her. Your coordination was poor and your skills were not up to the task, but given the situation, I doubt many others would have fared so well. That is not to say I am not sorely disappointed in how this turned out and how much better it could have been handled. For now, I am placing you on temporary leave Lieutenant, to be reviewed upon you being cleared to resume duty by a doctor. Kaneesha, I am issuing no disciplinary action against you. You followed the orders of your commanding officer very well in a stressful situation. Dismissed."

Rough chapter to write. As always remember to Like if you like the story. Still sick, but slowly starting to feel better.